The recent surge in COVID-19 positive cases and deaths attributed to COVID-19 is cause for heightened concern in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
This has moved the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Simone Keizer-Beache, to make another passionate plea to persons who are experiencing the slightest of symptoms, to seek medical attention before matters become complicated. This recent appeal was made as the CMO addressed a number of COVID-19 related issues as a guest on NBC’s Face to Face programme, Tuesday, 5th October.
Confirming the presence of the Delta, Gamma and Mu variants in the country, she made a point of explaining how symptoms of the original COVID-19 outbreak compare with what obtains since the emergency of the new variants.
She referenced the comparison between what she called the “original COVID-19” and the variants present here, saying that the symptoms of the Delta and Gamma variants progress very speedily in the body.
“With the Delta, what you’re seeing is some persons are getting very ill very quickly… they might have a fever, they might have diarrhea, vomiting, they have the cough, sore throat, the runny nose,” she stated.
The CMO emphasized that it was important that persons come to understand that the coronavirus variants move extremely quickly; that persons must not take it lightly, but seek medical attention at the first manifestation of any symptom.
“What we really want people to understand is the Delta and the Gamma, they go very quickly. So, somebody who ….. notices that, ‘this morning I woke up and I just had a little tingling, a runny nose, but I am having difficulty breathing, I am having diarrhoea, I am having vomiting and really I’m not feeling well’; that’s a sign that you need to get to your health care provider as quickly as possible.”
Dr. Keizer-Beache stressed that the current situation was even more of a cause for worry.
“Unlike the previous variants ….. it [original COVID-19] is pretty mild. It is mainly older persons, persons with severe comorbidities, meaning bad diabetes, kidney problems, heart problems, who were succumbing to the disease,” she reported.
“Unfortunately,” she continued, ” …we are seeing persons without any existing comorbidities and it’s worrying because we’re seeing younger and younger persons. The youngest person who died was 27 years old. We’ve had persons 39, 40s. That is extremely worrying and we need to really be alert. If you have something, if you feel a little unwell, don’t assume it’s the regular flu, don’t assume it’s your sinuses. Get checked.”